Russia Seeks Return of Convicted Arms Dealer Bout From U.S.

In this photo provided by the U.S. Department of Justice, former Soviet military officer and arms trafficking suspect Viktor Bout, center, deplanes after arriving at Westchester County Airport, in White Plains, New York, Nov. 16, 2010. Photo by U.S. Department of Justice via Getty Images

April 12 (Bloomberg) -- Russia is asking the U.S. to allow
the transfer home of Viktor Bout, a former Soviet air force
officer jailed for 25 years for plotting to sell weapons to a
Colombian terrorist group.

“We are concerned about the fate of our citizens, whatever
charges they face, and we want them to be in Russia,” Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov said in comments broadcast on state
television after talks yesterday with U.S. officials in
Washington. There are international conventions that allow
Russia to assist Bout, Lavrov said.

Bout, 45, was arrested in Bangkok in March 2008 in a sting
operation set up by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and
brought to New York for trial. Jurors found him guilty in
November of trying to set up a sale of arms, including surface-to-air missiles, with two men posing as members of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC.

“I believe that if Russia clears up what happened and
asserts its position confidently and firmly, I will return home
very soon,” Bout said today from jail during a telephone call
with reporters. “What happened to me wasn’t a trial; it was an
inquisition.”

Russia repeatedly sought to block Bout’s extradition to the
U.S. from Thailand and criticized his conviction as
“unjustified” and the result of “political pressure” from
the U.S. government. He was sentenced to 25 years, the minimum
prison term he faced, on April 6.

Prosecutors said Bout, who also worked as an arms dealer in
East Africa in the 1990s, controlled a fleet of as many as 50
cargo planes capable of transporting weapons and military
equipment to Africa, South America and the Middle East. Bout
denied the charges, saying he never intended to sell the
weapons.